Foods to Avoid When Wearing Braces

Once your teeth have become accustomed to having braces and are less sore, you can eat just about anything without worry. There are, however, a few foods that are very likely to damage your braces, and you should avoid eating these foods.

Sticky Foods

Anything that is sticky enough to pull at your braces could cause damage. These foods can also be very messy to clean off your braces, which is another reason to avoid eating them.

Gum, including regular or sugar-free

Caramels

Soft toffees

Soft candies like Starburst, licorice, or Tootsie Rolls

Hard Foods

Hard foods that shatter can bend or break brackets, wires, or bands. Small pieces of hard foods might also get caught between the wires and the tooth surface, and that can cause pain! Don’t chomp on the following:

Nuts

Chewing on hard toffees and other hard candies (you can suck on them, though)

Ice (don’t chew on it, but you can have it in drinks or to suck on)

French bread, bagels, and pizza crusts

Apples, unless sliced

Raw carrots, unless sliced or chopped into smaller pieces

Hard taco shells

Chips

Sugary Foods and Drinks

Sugary foods and drinks not only hurt your teeth and promote cavities, they can also encourage the bad kind of weight gain that leads to overweight and obesity. Limit or reduce your intake of the following foods:

Cakes and other sweet baked goods

Candy

Ice cream

Soda

Sports drinks

Energy drinks

Other sweetened drinks

Make it a habit to check your braces each day to spot bent or broken wires or loose bands or brackets. If you have damaged your braces, please call us immediately to arrange an appointment so we can repair them as soon as possible. Damaged braces can slow progress and even cause you pain, and we’ll get you in as quickly as possible.